A phased array includes an array of antenna elements that produce a radiation pattern. The relative phases and amplitudes of signals feeding the antenna elements may be varied to steer the pattern in a particular direction.
In certain situations, a temperature change may affect the operation of the antenna elements and the element path, which also may affect the resulting radiation pattern. Known techniques for addressing this problem include using a cooling system to stabilize the temperature of the antenna elements. Cooling systems, however, typically require a relatively large amount of space and/or power and may be quite complex. In addition, cooling systems may not be able to quickly respond to rapidly heating antenna elements or to effectively minimize the temperature gradient across an array that is experiencing non-uniform heating.